Clarence R. O'Crowley Jr.

Clarence R. O'Crowley, Jr., 87, of Vernon, died Wednesday, December 25. Clarence, a Vernon resident for fifty years, was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Dr. Clarence R. O'Crowley and Violet Park O'Crowley. After graduating from Newark Academy in 1944, he volunteered for the U.S. Merchant Marine, receiving a commission as a U.S. Naval Reserves Ensign. He served in the U.S. Army as a medic in 1945 during the Allied occupation of Berlin. Clarence graduated from Princeton University and received an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He had careers in real estate, insurance, and banking. A parishioner of St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Rockville, he was also a longtime member of the Vernon Exchange Club. For fifteen years he served as a guide and educator at the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry. He had a life long interest in reading and history. He was a loving husband and father. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Catherine C. O'Crowley; his daughters Regina, of Vernon; Peggy, and her husband David Wholley, of Montclair, New Jersey; Anne, and her husband Glen Gobar, of San Francisco, California; his son Michael, of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and grandsons James and Julian Wholley, and Luke Gobar. Clarence was predeceased by a grandson, Eamonn Wholley. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 AM on Monday, December 30, at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Rockville. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Nathan Hale Homestead.